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26 Dec 2014

book review: dangerous girls by abigail haas

This book has been on my Kindle for quite some time and I can't believe me it took me so long to actually read it. The blurb reads as follows:

"Elise is dead. And someone must pay. Anna, her boyfriend Tate, her best friend Elise and a group of close friends set off on a debaucherous Spring Break trip to Aruba. But paradise soon turns into a living nightmare when Elise is brutally murdered. Soon Anna finds herself trapped in a foreign country, fighting for her freedom. As she awaits the judge's decree, it becomes clear that everyone is questioning her innocence. To the rest of the world, Anna isn't just guilty, but dangerous. And the truth is more shocking than you could ever imagine..."

Dangerous Girls follows the story of a group of friends who push the boundaries of having fun and boy, do they (apparently) know how to have fun. Until it ends in disaster for one of them.

Tate is the popular boy with his good looks and status as captain of the high school sports team; Elise is the fun-loving free spirit party girl who appears to lead everyone around her astray and Anna is the girl who has transferred from another school and seems to be perplexed by her good fortune in her status as Tate's girlfriend and Elise's best friend. And if I'm honest, I didn't like any of them - they are un-relatable (at least for me), self-centred and the type of people I would avoid being too friendly with.

I was pulled in as soon as I read the first chapter - it is written in such a way that it flits between a variety of memories that belong to Anna. It is essentially written from Anna's point of view and although stories that go from the past to the present don't really work (in my opinion and experience), it is very effective in telling the story in Dangerous Girls. It is a good way to drip feed the reader with information that stuns and shocks - and let me tell you, there is a twist virtually every chapter or so.

The more I read, the more I thought it sounded like the Amanda Knox/Meredith Kercher case and that the book was probably based more on that rather than on an original idea the author had. Whilst not a bad thing, this may ruin the story for some readers. Personally, I was fine with it because the book is very well written and we often see the plot of Pride and Prejudice re-hashed in modern day novels (e.g. the Bridget Jones series) so to me, Dangerous Girls is no different.

Overall, Dangerous Girls is a thriller that is ridiculously well written and considering I read it in two days, this can only be a good sign. Especially as, at the time, I was on a busy university week! I give it a 9/10 because the twists were unpredictable and the ending is exceedingly shocking. Without spoiling it, you'll have to read it to see what I mean but the book is totally not what I expected and I don't think I'll be the first, or last, person to say this!

I know that Abigail Haas has also written a book called Dangerous Boysbut I have yet to start it as Rainbow Rowell's Landline is my current read so it'll have to wait until 2015.

1 comment

This book sounds like a great read. And I honestly don't think I'd mind if it seems to take after the Amanda Knox/Meredith Kercher case at all. I think I'll add this to my wishlist to pick up from the library. :)